Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 161 



assigned them in the dance, have now taken up the man's style of 

 dancing, wearing a slightly modified version of the man's "feathers" 

 costume. Although some of the older people object, the innovation 

 is spreading. 



Just as the War dance-centered powwow is the most important 

 secular focus of Pan-Indianism, so the Peyote cult is its prime religious 

 expression. This form of worship, the Indian feels, is really his own. 

 Since the unifying effect of Peyotism has been discussed at some 

 length by others, particularly La Barre (1938) and PetruUo (1934), 

 I shall not enter into great detail here. Worthy of mention in passing, 

 however, is a Peyote meeting which I attended in the summer of 1954. 

 Though technically a "Ponca" affair, since it was sponsored by a 

 Ponca family and held on the Ponca reservation, the meeting was 

 led by a Comanche, and attended by Kiowa, Comanche, Sauk, 

 Delaware, Oto, Pawnee, Southern Cheyenne, and Omaha adherents. 

 Southern Ponca peyotists present at this ceremony assured me that 

 the large number of tribes represented was not unusual. 



Like the powwow, the Peyote religion has affected the remaining 

 aboriginal culture of the Southern Ponca. The tipi and the costume 

 blanket, once everyday parts of Ponca culture, have become symbols 

 of peyotism, and in this manner have been retained by the tribe longer 

 than would probably have otherwise been the case. "Peyote bead- 

 work," the Southern Plains technique which came to the Southern 

 Ponca on the gourds, feathers, and other ritual equipment of the reli- 

 gion, is now used quite often on dancing costumes and souvenirs 

 made by the Southern Ponca in place of their older lazy-stitch and 

 spot-stitch work. 



Having described some of the principal features of Oklahoma Pan- 

 Indianism, let us now consider some of the social factors which seem 

 to have played a special role in its growth. 



One of the principal factors fostering this intertribal solidarity is 

 undoubtedly ethnic discrimination. Although the Indian slums found 

 in the cities of other States with large Indian populations are not com- 

 mon in Oklahoma, some discrimination in employment and housing 

 does exist. Many Oklahoma Whites tend to lump all tribes together, 

 merely as "Indians." This, of course, elicits a complementary 

 reaction. 



The common low economic level of most Oklahoma Indians, par- 

 tially a result of the ethnic discrimination just noted, is also a major 

 contributing element. Most Oklahoma Indians lease what little land 

 they have and supplement the income thus derived with wage labor 

 performed for Whites. The common poverty of the members of dif- 

 ferent tribal groups, by its contrast to the position of the surrounding 

 majority, undoubtedly fosters a strong feeling of unity. This is well 



